The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-09-02
LIZ Piece Of a Cometa

Earl Hidden, in the August Ie"e@f9 NJ
ouote as follows: There has re
Gently come into my possession H
NINTH iron meteorite whose fall to GID
oa,tb has been observed. 1t Is more
over. the first meteorite which seems
70 evidence a direct connection With =
stor.sbower. The mass acquires SIN
further interest from the fact that Il
presumably a fragment of the famou
comet of Biela.
A brief account of this celestial
wanderer will doubtless be of Interest
TO the readers of The Century, in which
maoazine the essays OF the astrono
mer Langley AVE recently appeared.
Astronomers have waited patienug
for the fall to the earth's surface, at the.
time of the periodical star-showers, III
something tangible, but until now tiey.
have waited in vain.
In looking over a considerable
mount of astronomical I~tteratuFe,
only one record a be found OF the
falling of Il body to the earth at such Il
time: this was near Paris. on the 10th
of April, 1904, when many shooting
stars were seen. and a very large ono
was said to have been found on the
ground as a glowing substance.
From tie Path to the 29th of NoYem-
Der, 1885, the earth was passing
through a train of meteors that pro
ceeded from the constellation Andre.
media. and once formed a part Of Biela's
comet. These meteors are nov known
to ronom as Andromedes or
Bielids. The maximum of this shower
occurred on the 9th, while it was yet
broad daylight over America, and at
an hour corresponding to IL, a. M az
Mazapil, Mexico. Thus, at the time oi
the fall of this meteorite, ten hours ar
ter the maximum number of meteors
was observed. the earth was meeting
with only the Stragglers of the traiu.
1t connot be doubted that the cosmical
dust proceeding from the disiutegration
of B elias Comet wholly enveloped the
earth and was seen as meteors from
every part of it. Such was the mag
nificeucc OF the celestial phenomenon
that il some parts of the Eastern Cont
nent uneducated people believed there
would be no stars left in the sky.
OF the countless host of meteors
which crossed the earth's path on this
9th of November. only n is as YET
known to have reached the earth's SUR
face, and this fell near the village 81
Mazapil. in the state of Zacateeas
Mexico, at about, 9 o'clock in the even
ing. 1t is of the rare iron-nickel varie
ty, and weighs ten and a quarter
pounds troy.
This meteorite was presented to me
by Sr. Jose A. v Bonilla, Direct9f-Pro
lessor of the Zacatecas Observatory
who received it, five days after its fall.
from the ranchman who saw it descend
from the heavens. This rauotman re
lated the strange occurrence as follows
TRANSLATED from the Spanish)
'tIt was at about 9 o'clock on the night o
November 27th, when / wen out to the CORA
to feed certain horses; suddenly, | heard
loud Sizing noise, exactly as though some
thing red-hot was being plunged into coll
water, and almost instantly there followed
somewhat loud thud. At once the corral wa
covered with a phosphorescent light, whil
suspended in the air were small lumiuou
sparks as though from a rookie | had 40
i TEGONGICu from NY surprise DeLOEe 4 saw knl
luminous air disappear, and there remainel
on the ground only such a light as is mad
when a match is rubbed. Anumber Of peopl
came running toward me from the neighbor
ing houses, and they assisted me In quleting
the horses. which had become very much ex
cited. We all asked each other what could b.
the matter, and we were afraid to walk In til
corral for tear Of being burned. When, In
few moments, we had recovered from Gu
fright, we saw the light disappear, aud Bring
ing lanterns TO look for the cause, we found
hole In the ground and In it a bail of light
We retired to a distance, fearing IL would ex
plode and harm us. Looking up To the sky
we saw from time to time exhalatlons or stars
which soon went out without noise. We re
turned after a little, and found ia the hole
hot stone which we could barely handle; chi
on the next day, we saw, looked like a piec
OF iron. All night it rained stars, but w sa,
none fall to the ground, as they all seemed t
be extinguished while yet very hlgh up
Upon further inquiry we learn TIA
there was no explosion or detonatioi
heard, and that the mass penetrate
the earth only to a depth of lively
inches.
This very circumstsntial accoun
leads us to believe that Til meteorit
is the first one to be secured and mr.
served chat has come to the earth dun
/ IN ~ a cfar.l ol,,uro.